Borrowing a Studio

Studio Loan wants to connect LA artists with the space they need — for free

By Kristine Schomaker

60% of artists in Los Angeles don't have a studio outside their home. Or one at all.

I think about that number a lot. Because space — or the lack of it — shapes everything. What you can make. How you can show it. Whether you can even invite someone in to see the work.

Studio visits matter. Not in some abstract networking way, but in the real, tangible way where someone comes to your space, stands in front of your work, and something shifts. Opportunities come from those moments. Relationships. Sometimes just the validation that the work exists and someone saw it.

But if you don't have a studio, what then?

Studio Loan is a project built around exactly that question. It's a virtual bulletin board where LA artists who need a short-term studio space can post what they're looking for, and artists who have space to share can post what's available. Free to use. No fees, no gatekeeping. Just a practical resource trying to solve a real problem.

The project was created by a team of volunteers, originally under the umbrella of Contemporary Art League (which sunseted in 2025 after five years of community organizing). The bulletin board is still active and now lives as a standalone resource at studio-loan.com.

The way it works is simple. You post a need or an offer. If you find a match, you use a free Licensing Agreement Template — created in partnership with The Artist's Contract — to set the terms. The agreement protects both parties. It lays out expectations in advance. It gives the whole thing some structure so that artists aren't just hoping for the best on a handshake arrangement.

Short-term means up to two weeks. (If you need longer, that moves into sublease territory, which is a different process.) But for a studio visit, a short-term project, a residency-adjacent situation, two weeks is actually a lot.

The need is real and kind of obvious once you name it. Artists who work in mediums that don't typically require a dedicated studio. Artists whose current living situation doesn't allow for making certain kinds of work. Artists building their career who can't afford a full lease. These are not edge cases. This is most of us at some point.

What Studio Loan is doing is tapping into what's already there — existing studios that sit empty while their residents travel, teach, or just need a break — and making those resources available to artists who need them. The sharing economy applied to creative infrastructure. It's elegant, honestly.

The challenge right now is visibility. The team has said that every time they tell someone about Studio Loan in person, they get immediate enthusiasm. People immediately see the value. But the bulletin board needs more people posting — both needs and offers — to create the kind of critical mass that makes it actually useful for everyone.

So if you have space you're not using, post it. If you need space, post that. And if you're neither right now, tell someone who might be.

This is exactly the kind of community resource that only works if we use it.

Studio Loan bulletin board: studio-loan.com

Free contract templates also available through The Artist's Contract at theartistscontract.com